Tag: Falcon Heavy test flight

Can Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully carry people into space? That question should get a partial answer within the next 24-hours, thanks to a test …

Can Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully carry people into space? That question should get a partial answer within the next 24-hours, thanks to a test named ‘Demo-1’.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, SpaceX will attempt a demonstration mission for Crew Dragon, a version of its spacecraft that’s been fitted out to carry people rather than just cargo. If the test is successful, SpaceX says, that will demonstrate its ability to safely fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS.)

That would be a really big deal for the U.S., as NASA retired its shuttles in 2011 and has since relied on the Russians to provide ISS ferrying services. Problem is, the American space agency doesn’t have any more seats on Russia’s Soyuz capsules booked after November this year.

The launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 2:48 a.m. EST, with a backup window available next Tuesday at 1:38 a.m. EST.

There won’t be any people on board this test, however: instead, the capsule will be home to a dummy called Ripley wearing a spacesuit and a bunch of data-collecting sensors, plus 400 lbs of supplies for the space station. The older Dragon capsules have successfully completed 16 ISS missions.

Musk tweeted an image of Ripley on Friday. The name evokes Ellen Ripley from Alien—a previous dummy, the David-Bowie-referencing Starman, got tossed out into space in a Tesla Roadster just over a year ago.

The official SpaceX twitter confirmed that Elon Musk’s company is already preparing for the Falcon 9 launch, which is expected to happen this coming …

The official SpaceX twitter confirmed that Elon Musk’s company is already preparing for the Falcon 9 launch, which is expected to happen this coming Feb. 21. The company announced that it has finished the static fire test for this spaceflight. Here’s what we know about this.

As seen on SpaceX’s Twitter, the CEO and founder confirmed that the Falcon 9 preparations are almost complete. The rocket is being prepared to send the Indonesian satellite Nusantara Satu into orbit and will be launched from the Pad 40 launch site in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

With the flight schedule moving along, SpaceX won’t need to fear any of their spaceflights revoked due to delays and conflicts by late 2019. Since Falcon 9 is going first, the Crew Dragon flight is expected to be the next one after this.

Previously, the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon launches were both almost scheduled for March as they had to give time for the tests to be successful. If the delay had still pushed through, this would have been a big problem for SpaceX as the launch pad could only accommodate one spaceflight, which would then in turn stack more delays to the SpaceX projects. With Falcon 9’s February flight, the Crew Dragon DM-1 flight won’t have to worry about that anymore.

Once both these flights are over, the company will likely ramp up preparations for the Crew Dragon DM-2, which would be a manned spaceflight with two crews onboard. This project is SpaceX’s attempt at human transportation between Earth and outer space destinations such as space stations. SpaceX is planning to launch ships that allow them to transport people and cargo to outer space.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 launches are mostly for sending out satellites and other commercial payloads to Earth’s orbit too. In the future, the data gathered from the Falcon launches would be used to make the Super Heavy ship which would be the large commercial space flight vehicle. All-in-all, SpaceX is looking to make a human colony on Mars once they’re able to complete all their space flight tests and make their larger rockets soon. For now, we’ll have to wait for SpaceX to update us soon.

Its next liftoff date is just a few days a way. Pictured: In this handout image provided by NASA, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen with the NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft and onboard, Monday, May 21, 2018, at Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission will measure changes in how mass is redistributed within and among Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, land and ice sheets, as well as within Earth itself. GRACE-FO is sharing its ride to orbit with five Iridium NEXT communications satellites as part of a commercial rideshare agreement.Photo: NASA via Getty Images/Bill Ingalls

It’s time to start saving if you ever plan on seriously visiting Mars in the future. Elon Musk is making it his goal for space travel to be made affordable, …

PA / SpaceX

It’s time to start saving if you ever plan on seriously visiting Mars in the future.

Elon Musk is making it his goal for space travel to be made affordable, despite his company SpaceX’s interplanetary Starship not even leaving Earth yet.

In a tweet on Sunday (February 10), Musk said moving to the red planet would potentially cost $500,000 or less.

Very dependent on volume, but I’m confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want.

SpaceX is currently working on completing its starship, the reusable stainless steel rocket that is expected to transport 100 space tourists to Mars in just one go. While half-a-million USD seems likes a lot of money for a single flight, Musk makes it clear that people could sell their homes on Earth in order to permanently move to Mars. The return ticket is free so that’s a bonus!

$500,000 is also relatively cheap in comparison to the packages currently planned by Virgin Galactic. Taking a vacation at a luxury space hotel orbiting Earth would cost $9.5million, according to CNET.

Some would argue that it’s a lot of money to visit and then find out that there really isn’t much there. It would be an awful amount just to find out that rocks are actually quite boring if you stare at them for too long.

Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, colonising Mars won’t be an easy task with a lot of trips back and forth between Earth. Not to mention the amount of tests and data which need to be collated before humans will trust moving planets is safe.

(Reuters) – The Pentagon will evaluate the certification for Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch vehicles to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with …

(Reuters) – The Pentagon will evaluate the certification for Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch vehicles to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with certain guidelines, according to a memo https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/11/2002088764/-1/-1/1/D2019-D000PT-0059.000.PDF on Monday.

“Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles,” U.S. Department Of Defence Deputy Inspector General Michael Roark said in the memo.

The review will begin this month, the memo stated.

In December, a SpaceX rocket carrying a U.S. military navigation satellite blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral, marking the space transportation company’s first national security space mission for the United States.

The successful launch was a significant victory for billionaire Musk, who has spent years trying to break into the lucrative market for military space launches dominated by Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

Musk’s privately held rocket company said last month it would reduce its workforce by about 10 percent of the company’s more than 6,000 employees, citing “extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead”.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)